HOME PAGE

#Herbs/Medicinal plantsWith an ever increasing dependency of humans on Drugs or Allopathy (to be appropriate) we as a race are becoming volatile. So at this juncture of time scientists are going back to the basics and searching the roots so as to come up with better medicinal practices for everyday or usual medical problems we face. So this leads us to the most ancient form of medicines used by our ancestors and even by their ancestors which are herbs. Herbs or herbal plants or medicinal plants are basically plants or part of plants that can be used as medicine,flavouring,food,perfume,etc.Here we talk on the medicinal aspects of herbs.Herbs have a rich medicinal history with archaeological evidences showing results of it being used even 60000 yrs B.C. Also is has its root in Chinese herbal medicine,Indian ayurvedic system,Egyptian Eber papyrus and many others. Indians have not just medicinal usage towards herbs but also spiritual and religious inclination towards them. Tulsi,Turmeric,Neem,Banyan,Khejri are just to name a few, the list is long. Herbs have always been very important in the South-East Asian regions but of late the western world also has accepted its importance and also started following the herbal system as medicinal alternative to allopathy and homeopathy. The fact that Ethnobotany is in itself a science speaks volumes about the importance of Herbs in human life Ethnobotany is the scientific study of the relationships that exist between people and plants.Today the field of ethnobotany requires a variety of skills: botanical training for the identification and preservation of plant specimens; anthropological training to understand the cultural concepts around the perception of plants,etc. Though usage of herbs as direct form of medicine is debatable as scientific study has given both:positive and negative results for it but a large section of people around the world still use herbs for medicinal purposes. The reason for it can be easy and cheap availability of herbs as compared to costly allopathic medicines,also unavailability of allopathic medicines,spiritual inclination towards herbs and many more. So now it goes on to the authorities to make optimum use of these herbs with medicinal usage and to literate the world about the proper usage of them so that the world gets the best out of the natural medicinal gifts available around us.

#HISTORY OF HERBS

Medicinal Plantshave been used in human history from the start of the human existence.Humans have been using many herbs and plants for the seasoning of their food for a long time,many of those herbs are found to be having medicinal qualities.

In India, Ayurveda has its own special importance.Herbal plants are used as medicine and been in use since time immemorial.Earliest Sanskrit writings such as the Rig Veda, and Atharva Veda are some of the earliest available documents detailing the medical knowledge that formed the basis of the Ayurveda system.Many other herbs and minerals used in Ayurveda were later described by ancient Indian herbalists such as Charaka and Sushruta during the 1st millennium BC. The Sushruta Samhita related to Sushruta in the 6th century BC mentions seven hundred medicinal plants,sixty four preparations from mineral sources and fifty seven preparations based on animal sources.

#Conservation of medicinal plants

The conservation of medicinal plants is very important as far as its increasing demand is concerned.According to a recent research herbal ingredients are major part of many modern medicines and about 80 percent of the population of the world depends on it. In United States of America about 25 to 40 percent prescribed drugs have ingredients that are derived from medicinal plants.The market for natural products is booming very fast.This is making a huge pressure on flora and fauna of even the remotest of areas and areas such as Himalayas.Its also been noticed that the local population starts exploiting their resources just for their financial gain.The over usage of the local resources leads to over harvesting,habitat degradation and habitat loss.

Conservation methods of Medicinal Plants

1.IN SITU CONSERVATIONIN SITU conservation is the on site conservation of the medicinal plants in its natural habitat.It can be done by either protecting it from illegal harvesting and deforestation,or by letting the habitat protect it by making some eco zones.It helps in eco balanced developement and balanced bio diversity.

in situ conservation

2.Ex-situ conservation The totally offsite conservation of any medicinal plant out side its natural habitat is called ex situ conservation. In ex situ conservation,the medicinal plants are brought from its natural but threatened habitat to a new location.The new location can be a wild location in a remote area or in lab conditions under human observation.

#HERBS-RELIGION AND SPIRITUALITY

Herbs are the medicinal plants that mother earth produces for us. Scientific definition for herbs is “herbs are any plants used for flavoring, food, medicine, or perfume”. In scientific term the word "herb" is also used as a synonym of "herbaceous plant". So herbs are of prime importance in medicinal aspects all around the world. Its not only the medicinal aspects but it also plays a very major role in the religious and spiritual beliefs all over the world. People all around the globe have religious affinity towards herbs but none can match the passion of Indians in this case. The Indian religious and cultural following is basically Hindu way of living and the Hindu religious scriptures has special mention of herbs and their religious importance. So if you see women flocking towards a Banyan tree and worshipping it don’t be amazed because thats the Indian way of spirituality. We start with the TULSI plant which is of prime importance in many of the households in the Indian Society. Tulsi in Hindus is regarded as an earthly manifestation of the goddess Tulsi,a consort of the god Vishnu. The offering of its leaves is mandatory in ritualistic worship of Vishnu and his forms like Krishna.Tulsi is also used as medicines as a part of our ayurvedic following.It is used in all the common problems that can occur to us;For eg: common cold,to control blood pressure,heart problems,to control stress,stomach problems. But all these benefits are for raw tulsi leaves and not for boiled leaves as boiling takes away all its natural ingredients that fight diseases. Neem trees are associated with Kaali Mata and Durga Mata.It too has a very spiritual importance in india and specially in South India.It itself is considered as goddess Neemress Devi.And as far as its medicinal value is considered it is termed as “One Tree Pharmacy”.It has special properties to treat skin diseases very effectively.Its juice is considered one of the best for our body and specially for a diabetic person. The Banyan Tree is also an important religious tree.It is said that Shri Krishna resides on the leaf of it.Also Bhagwaan Shivji are always depicted sitting under it.So spiritually banyan tree is of utmost importance and you would find these trees around all the temples. It also has mention in Buddist scriptures as Buddha is also said to sit under the banyan tree. I would like to mention Khejri trees.They are the biggest examples of man and tree spiritual bondings.Khejri trees are found in deserts of Rajasthan and have a special importance for Bishnoi people.They would sacrifice their life to save these trees.An incident in 1730 saw 363 Bishnoi people giving their life to save the trees.They were cut along the trees as they would not let the trees be cut. So these are few of the examples which along with their medicinal importance also have spiritual and religious importance.